COLUMN: Women are human beings, not 'binders'

Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 08:18 PM.

In order for women to be counted, now is the time for all women to go to the polls and make a difference. A vote for Patsy Keever as our 10th district congresswoman is the vote that will count for us as women. All you guys that have faithfully supported women, we thank you!

Women are human beings, not “binders” that you pull out of a file cabinet for appeasement.

Wiggins is a resident of Gastonia and former chair of the Gaston County Democratic Party.

Women, what are you going to do in the 10th District? Are you going to defend yourself or will you let the men in positions make the decisions for you?

It is a crying shame if we as women elect Romney as our leader when the man has already stated he will strike down the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which states that women can receive equal pay for equal work.

In January, 2009, Obama signed the bill into law. It was the first act he signed as president, and it fulfilled his campaign pledge to women. This law will in essence give women the right to pursue their compensation claims in the courts.

Governor Romney has also stated he would defund Planned Parenthood.

Romney has said time and again that he is a pro-life candidate and he will be a pro-life president. The actions he will take immediately are to remove funding for Planned Parenthood. It will not be part of his budget.

Defunding Planned Parenthood caused women’s services to drop by 93 percent in a Tennessee County. Between July 2011 and June 2012, the grant money the county received was not used at all. Local officials decided that instead of giving that Title X money to Planned Parenthood for health screenings, STD tests, and birth control, they’d instead give it to Christ Community Health Services, a religious organization that refuses to provide abortions or refer women to others who would provide them. This is what happens when governments decide to reallocate family planning funds to groups that aren’t really all that interested in family planning.

North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state legislature voted to override Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto of a state budget that strips money from Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina. Women, this is where we live in the state. There will be no more funding for low-income women services in this part of the state from Planned Parenthood.

We as females should never be controlled in such a manner!

It is time to turn the tables and make laws that make men responsible for their actions. Those abortion groups should be dismantled or they should assume responsibility for the children that are already here. We have numbers of children that need help. Orphans, drug –addicted infants, children with pre-existing conditions all need help and no one is there to give them the love they need to survive.

It is as though we tend to pick and choose which children remain a part of this world while other children are not so lucky.

So men it is time for you to get off your duff and do what is responsibly right. If you think women deserve better, include the laws to favor them as well. Women should never be denied the right to live a life of their choosing.

Women are maintainers and they have the assets you men need to move forward. The Constitution begins as “we the people” and that in itself should stand as a compromise to make this country “stand tall.”

As indicated by some men, we don’t cotton to the idea of being automatically “legitimate” with our bodies. That is total ignorance.

I am a mother, grandmother and aunt. I am proud to work in a direction that makes laws equal for females. Disrespect for the female gender does not balance the scales for equal rights.

In order for women to be counted, now is the time for all women to go to the polls and make a difference. A vote for Patsy Keever as our 10th district congresswoman is the vote that will count for us as women. All you guys that have faithfully supported women, we thank you!

Women are human beings, not “binders” that you pull out of a file cabinet for appeasement.

Wiggins is a resident of Gastonia and former chair of the Gaston County Democratic Party.